DP Aakash Subramaniam Picks ZEISS Supreme And Nano Primes

Cinematographer Aakash Subramaniam, WICA, set himself a tricky challenge: to lens a story about dying that avoids feeling morbid.

For his short film 'Our Weird Selves' — a quirky, heartfelt dark comedy made as his master’s thesis at the New York Film Academy with writer-director Marco Felipe — he paired ZEISS Supreme Primes with ZEISS Nano Primes to achieve an unvarnished, intimate aesthetic. The film has drawn warm responses on the circuit, screening at events including California Indies, the Citrus Film Festival and the Moondust Helsinki Film Festival.

'Our Weird Selves' centres on Charles (Foster Manley), who brings his wife Bridget (Anquanizia Hall) home after more than a year in hospital. As they tentatively reconnect, a euthanasia leaflet slips from his jacket, forcing a conversation neither is ready to have. The resulting tone is darkly funny yet tender, with camerawork designed to pull viewers so close they can see every pore.

"It was really important for me to capture my actors in their rawest form," explained Aakash. "I wanted to capture the skin texture, the imperfections, and the details that make them real. A lot of people do shy away from it, but I think that’s where reality kicks in."

In prep, Subramaniam tested multiple options before landing on ZEISS Supremes for their transparency and control. "When I put on the Supreme Primes, the director tapped me and said, 'This is the lens I want to shoot with. No other lens'." That verdict was reinforced by their rendering. "What stood out to me immediately was how well it held detail without feeling clinical. The Supremes felt less like they were shaping an image and more like they allowed me to see the world the way I see it — without adding any bias to it."

He turned to the Supremes for two-shots of Charles and Bridget, much of which unfolds around their dining table in a volley of glances, cutaways and gentle camera moves that play like a rally. Close-focus capability let him push near without sacrificing presence, drawing the audience into the relationship rather than observing at arm’s length.

For character cutaways — a comic jab at a tatty mystery paperback, or hyper-detailed singles on Charles — Subramaniam switched to ZEISS Nano Primes. "The Supremes are like an elder sister to the Nanos," he described. "I found the Nanos to even be a tad sharper, which gave it this observational quality I was looking for." That look carries through to extreme close-ups of lips, eyes and hands.

Pushing the glass, he shot over a third of the film wide open at T1.5. For a pivotal moment on the sofa, he added a diopter to capture an ultra-tight whisper from Bridget into Charles's ear. "I was worried everything would be a blur and I wouldn’t get the textures we wanted. To my surprise, everything was in focus and it was beautiful. I didn’t lose the actor’s skin tone; I kept the textures and the feelings of the moment."
He added, laughing: "And my first AC did not hate me for it."

Hall's performance as Bridget forms the film’s emotional centre, and the decision to eschew flattering filtration in favour of unflinching proximity underlines both her strength and vulnerability.

The short continues its festival run, earning Best Cinematography at the Moondust Helsinki Film Festival and the Citrus Film Festival, alongside 11 nominations to date. It is also screening nationwide in Australia at the National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA).